* Oregon took over the No. 2 position from Alabama on the strength of its win at No. 15 (my ballot) Oregon State.

The Crimson Tide’s 49-0 victory over an Auburn team that’s winless in the SEC wasn’t enough to fend off the Ducks this week. (Bama’s resume-boosting opportunity comes Saturday in the SEC title game.)

* Likewise, Florida moved up one spot, to No. 4 — displacing LSU in the process — after the Gators’ victory at No. 13 Florida State.

(In the SEC, evidently, this was the-ACC-is-our-you-know-what week: 4-0 head to head, every win by 10+.)

* Stanford got the same treatment: The Cardinal, which won at No. 16 UCLA, jumped two spots to No. 8.

Road wins over ranked teams at this time of year must be rewarded.

* So why not also reward South Carolina, which won at No. 14 Clemson?

I had the Gamecocks in the 6-hole last week and kept them in that position because the two teams directly above them, Florida and LSU, both beat South Carolina head-to-head.

* The Nos. 13, 14, 15, 16 and 18 teams on the ballot (Florida State, Clemson, Oregon State, UCLA and Michigan) all lost, but they all held their positions because the defeats were to higher-ranked teams.

* I did not treat No. 19 USC in quite the same manner even though the Trojans lost to No. 1 Notre Dame.

The reason was Arizona’s home loss to Arizona State, which forced me to downgrade a weeks-long assessment of USC’s defeat in Tucson (one of the toughest places to play in the Pac-12 and site of an Arizona victory over Oklahoma State).

But I kept the Trojans on the ballot despite a 7-5 record because four of the defeats have been to top-20 teams.

That’s the same reason I’ve had Michigan in the teens all these weeks despite its three losses … and the same reason I kept Michigan in the No. 18 spot this week despite is loss in Columbus.

* I voted for San Jose State this week and did so without hesitation (albeit with a tinge of amazement given the state of the program just two years ago):

The Spartans are 10-2, admittedly with a fair number of cupcake victories on their resume.

But at the same time, they’ve beaten BYU (7-5) and Louisiana Tech (9-3) at home and San Diego State (9-3) on the road, and their losses have come at Stanford (by three points) and to No. 20 Utah State.

WOW! Big props from SEC Wilner for the Ducks at #2! I agree Jon, although I would move Stanford up a few spots given that they beat Phil’s boys. Pac12 love from Wilner…it must be Thanksgiving weekend!

As for ND, I wish the Ducks were going to play them. Either the Ducks or more likely Alabama are going to cruise to the National Championship. Love Teo, but I don’t see the Domer’s winning. SC is a mess and if Stanford plays ND now with Hogan, we win big. Oh well, good on them for running the table.

bubbafrombama

You’re gonna rank Oregon higher than Bama in the AP when it is 2-5 spots lower in the computer tankings of the BCS? Quit playing favoritism! That’s what’s so friggin’ wrong with keyboard cowboys.

ed c

The SEC is very good and deep as they proved yesterday in beating 3 ACC archrivals (two on the road) but I agree that Oregon deserves #2 this week. Assuming that Florida doesn’t make the title game, I’d love to see Florida and Oregon in a bowl. I am sure it will be Oregon and KState, but I’d rather see the Ducks and the Gators

JawJuhDog

I cannot understand the disrespect for Georgia. You rank Florida so high yet when given to opportunity, Florida lost to Georgia. From what I gather, you would place Florida in the BCS Championship game after Georgia beats Alabama. You obviously chose not to even mention Georgia in your column.

SpartanDude

My Spartans at number 23! Finally. Thanks for the recognition of their outstanding season, Jon

rudruff

It is fascinating to see how rarely the highly ranked SEC teams play each other.

of the 3 through 7 teams

Alabama has played one other team in the group

UGA has played 2 others, which is better, but here are the UGA SEC wins

Missouri, Vanderbilt, Tennessee, Kentucky, Ole Miss, Auburn, Florida

here are the SEC teams UGA didn’t play during the regular season

Alabama, LSU, Texas A&M, MSU, Arkansas

http://magrealestate.com Matthew

How do you rank an undefeated Ohio State #9? Are you basing this on their lack of a post season? They have defeated 7 bowl eligible teams (including PSU) compared to 9 for ND, Bama 5, and Georgia 4.

Spartan Pubber

I had to just pick myself up off the floor. The Spartan’s have made the big time; recognition in the “Wilner Poll”!

DUsjsu

But alas SJSU finishes 26th…….I guess all the easy coast guys voted before they went to bed on the east coast

Gurugrease

Hooray for San Jose! Thanks for the love, JW.

Could move up after next week. Kent plays NIU (which should not be ranked) in MAC championship and Nevada plays Boise St…a couple of options for SJS to move into Top 25 prior to bowls.

Still don’t understand your logic with SC. Yes, they have some tough losses against ranked teams but they have beaten absolutey NO ONE of any note. Washington eliminates itself will loss to Wazzu.

Spartacusminimus

How about this:
*San Jose State gets invited to Heart of Dallas Bowl.
*Spartans go head to head against the Baylor Bears.
*Another Shootout and the Spartans win, 35-28.

At any rate, the Spartans have to be commended on a hard fought win. They showed a lot heart and never gave up. A lot of teams would have let that one slip away. Good Job Spartans!

Kofa79

Florida should be #2 by any objective measure. They have beaten more top 15 teams (4) than Alabama, Oregon, Notre dame, and uga combined. For all the talk about the “eye test” at this stage in the season we need to look at what teams accomplished or didn’t. Alabama has 1 top 15 win and 1 loss same for uga Oregon has none because osu won’t be top 15 at the end of the season, Nd has 2 wins. At the end of the day lets reward teams for what they have accomplished. Sorry John, beating a&m at a&m, USC and lsu at the swamp and fsu at the doak is better than anything any of those other teams have done

NQR

Wilner has Stanford #8? After beating Oregon? After losing in OT at Notre Dame on official screw jobs, and at UW by 4 pts, both with a QB no longer good enough to play?

Jon, would you have allowed the N.Y. Giants, who won the Super Bowl last NFL season, to even be in the playoffs?

NQR

Oh, and LOL at USC in your poll.

Jacob Wang

SJSU also won AT Navy & the loss in Palo Alto due to Stanford turning a SJSU fumble into the winning points

Tim

NQR?……Stanford lost to Washington and struggled to beat Washington state both Arizona teams and USC. Oregon dispatched most of theses by the end of the first half!

DUsjsu

BCS computer ranks SJSU #25 at least one poll got it right!

mk92

And, Oregon lost to Stanford. Period. End of story. Accept it, and move on (to the Fiesta Bowl, rather than South Beach).

Most Wanted

#23. San Jose State

That is a powerful statement.

Jon doesn’t homer his ballots. If they didn’t deserve it, he would not have voted for them.

…and yes South Carolina also belongs #6, they have a pretty good coach (Spurrier).

Stanford fans,

Very nice win at UCLA. I’ll be rooting for you guys to win your bowl game! Good Luck and Godspeed.

Most Wanted

…wait ..I guess I should say congrats on beating UCLA and good luck in the PAC12 Championship game…. against ….UCLA …again ?!?!?!

David

How is USC in your poll!? Based on your logic, BYU should be in the poll is well. 4 of BYU’s 5 losses are to teams in the top 25 of the BCS. I am sure there are several other teams who fall into this category. USC’s best win is on the road against a 7-5 Washington team. Its second best win is at home against a 7-5 Arizona State team.

When does actually winning games factor into your poll?

macbaldy

USC lost to UCLA and dropped within the rankings. The Trojans then took on the #1 ND and with a backup QB stayed in the game. With the prep time before their eventual bowl game, USC will still a top-25 caliber team. It seems that a loss to ND is heavily penalized in the polls. That’s what happened to Stanford.

Robert Lall

I respectfullly disagree with placing Notre Dame 1st and Oregon 2nd. Stanford played both of these teams even and as every one knows had their game with Notre Dame given away by the referees. Ratings are supposed to reflect current playing strength. If Stanford beats UCLA and wins the Rose Bowl they will have played one of the tougher schedules in the country and come out with 12 wins! That puts them in the conversation about being the best team in the country.

SEC Fan

Hi Guys & Girls – SEC/LSU dude here. Thought I would give y’all a primer on SEC football that you might find interesting
Alabama and Georgia are both pretty good teams and can ceratinly win the national championship, as could any of the other 4 SEC teams that have one or two losses (and they could lose the nc game as well, none of these teams are as good as Tigers and Tide were last year). But the reason it will be Ala or Ga is because they scheduled their way to the SEC championship game. Each division of the SEC has 7 teams and each division has three teams that are pretty good. The 4 teams not in the championship game all played at least one of the better teams from the other division in addition to all of the teams in their division. And Florida and LSU played two of the three good teams in the other draw. As you can probably guess, The Tide and Bulldogs played nobody from the other division. As an example, Tide played Tennessee and Missouri while LSU played Florida and South Carolina. Next year Alabama plays Tennessee and Kentucky (our versions of Colorado and WSU) while LSU plays Georgia and Florida. Any wonder why Alabama and Georgia are playing for the chance to go to Miami?
And, yes, it’s that way it is every year. Alabama runs the conference and gets what it wants and what it wants is a chance to win the NC each year… so the SEC staff helps them as much as they can. So, while their are some SEC fans who will be pulling for Alabama (if they win Saturday) against the Irish there will be a whole lot more pulling for Notre Dame (which is pretty amazing).
BTW,It’s really a shame that we can’t figure out a way for Stanford and LSU to play, I think it would be wildly entertaining

Pluto99

macbaldy – I think Stanford is penalized in the polls for losing to a mediocre UW squad in Seattle. Stanford is the top ranked 2-loss team in some polls, and second only to LSU in others.

Bootlegger

@Pluto99: I agree that the loss to UW definitely weights strongly against Stanford. Also because Stanford has been winning more with D than with O, it hasn’t put up gaudy scores. On the other hand, Stanford beat Oregon (sorry Timmy, I had to point that out), the three other CA schools and is very, very likely going to the Rose Bowl. So a great season no matter what the polls say.

http://none Lawyerdad

I do not understand Wilner’s logic. Then again, who does?
Look at what Stanford has done. Stanford went to Eugene and beat Oregon the number two team in the country according to Wilner. Stanford went to South Bend and lost to No.1 Notre Dame in overtime on a controversial call.
No team in the country even comes close to that record. When you add on wins over Oregon State, UCLA, USC and San Jose State you reach 5 wins over top 25 programs. The lone blemish on Stanford’s record is a loss to Washington on the road.
Don’t the four wins over top 25 teams compensate for the loss to Washington? Right now Stanford has the best win over any team in the country having won at Oregon.
The SEC is bogus. They play 8 conference games. The best wins they have is against themselves. Look at the number of SEC teams that have lost out of conference games this year. Look at the close calls that teams like Florida have had to terrible teams.
I do not understand how Wilner’s mind work because he contradicts himself constantly and makes up the rules as he goes along.
At least he explains his thinking which is more transparent than a lot of other sportswriters who vote. He really does need to rethink his ranking about Stanford. It is illogical and way off the mark. Does Wilner really think that all of the teams that are ranked above Stanford could have done what Stanford did the last 3 games? I didn’t think so.

tk94111

After the win in Pasadena I came back to my hotel room and turned on San Jose State v. La Tech. I could not turn away; that was a great game and win by the Spartans! Much props and admiration from a Stanford homer to the guys who made us crap our pants at the beginning of this season. Great season, guys, good luck the rest of the way!

SpartansWinAgain!

They beat the 4 other California teams but I know what you mean when you say 3. The 3 RANKED California teams … SJ, SC and LA. But yep the UW loss is weighing down the overall body of work. It’s one of those learning lesson games. They shoulda unleashed Nunes and had some fun with it but instead played way too conservative against a very suspect UW backfield who just lost to wsu. Those shoulda woulda coulda games are the toughest pills to swallow.

Jim Lahey

@Tim, What? I don’t remember Stanford having trouble beating ASU, do you? What was the score of that game again?